Mateo Maximoff (Scopatore)
(mother) † *Carmela Maximoff (stepmother) *Pietro Maximoff (stepbrother) *Marco Maximoff (stepbrother) *Wanda Maximoff (half-sister) *Marya Krum (half-sister) *Gabrielle Maximoff (wife) *Crystalia Maximoff II (daughter) *Natalia Maximoff (daughter) *Stella Maximoff (niece) *Santino Maximoff (nephew) *Fleur Maximoff (sister-in-law) *Luna Maximoff (niece) *Donatello Maximoff (nephew) *Vittoria Maximoff (niece) *Fedor Krum (brother-in-law) *Daniel Krum (nephew) *Franka Krum (niece) |animagus= |boggart= |wand=10", Pine, phoenix feather |patronus=*Panther (formerly) *Unicorn |job=*Mercenary (1995–2003) *Professor of Defence at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic |house= |loyalty= }} Mateo Django Maximoff (b. 9 September 1975) was a Romanian pure-blood wizard who attended the Carpathian School of Magic in Romania from 1984 to 1994. Only biological son of esteemed author Antoine Maximoff and his socialite wife Crystalia, Mateo lost his mother at the age of four to an unknown disease. After his father remarried, relations between Mateo and his new step-family were cold, with him even refusing to attend the same school as the new Maximoffs and instead insisting that he be allowed to go to school in Carpathia back in his home country of Romania. Throughout his school years, Mateo mostly kept to himself, his demeanor being that of a cold, lone individual. He was picked on for most of his education which forged his passion for the Dark Arts and spellcrafting. Forsaking any extra-curricular activities including Quidditch, Chess and such, he buried himself in his studies. However, his loneliness eventually ended when he befriended Hungarian-born student Nicolas Mihalios. Unfortunately, a Quidditch accident during their ninth year took his life and Mateo was driven deep into depression, almost failing that year, not to mention nearly killing another student after a sly remark was made about his deceased friend. However, with the help of his family, he was able to climb out of depression and finish his final year. After his schooling, Mateo began to rebuild his relationship with his family. He attended the 1994-1995 Triwizard Tournament in order to support his stepbrother Pietro, who was the champion for New Alexandria. Throughout his post-schooling years, he had become acquainted with the Delacour family through his stepbrother's engagement, and worked as a mercenary in the meantime, even being employed by the Delacours themselves. He eventually formed a relationship with Gabrielle Delacour, the youngest of Alain Delacour's daughters and his stepsister-in-law through Pietro's marriage. The pair married in 2005 and had two daughters, Crystalia Amelia and Natalia Lidia Maximoff. He returned to his post as the Professor of Defence at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, which he previously briefly occupied from 2002-2003 as part of his job to protect Gabrielle. Biography Early Life (1975 - 1984) Mateo Django Maximoff was born to Antoine and Crystalia Maximoff in the early hours of September 9, 1975 in the magical village of Norocstat, Romania. His father being a successful author from a rich family, he was rather wealthy. However, Mateo always hated going to extravagant gatherings, instead preferring his peace and quiet. In 1980, his mother was afflicted with a terminal disease. On August 18, she slipped into a magically-induced coma and the decision was made to euthanize her on August 24. This loss affected Mateo greatly, who wouldn't truly come to terms with his mother's death for years to come. His father remarried an Italian witch named Carmela De Santa, who was a widow in her own right with two sons of her own. Mateo, thinking his father was trying to forget Crystalia, became very bitter towards him and his new bride. Mateo reluctantly moved with his father to a new home in Italy, but refused to even be civil towards his step-family, which would spawn a rivalry with the youngest of his step-brothers, Marco. Although he was slated to attend the New Alexandria School of Enlightenment, Mateo refused to go to the school after finding out his step-brothers would also attend the school; Mateo instead insisted that he be allowed to attend the Carpathian School of Magic in his birth country of Romania. After several arguments, Mateo's father relented and enrolled him in the Romanian wizarding school. Carpathian School of Magic (1984 - 1994) Early years Mateo enrolled in the Carpathian School of Magic in 1984 at the age of nine. Almost from the beginning, Mateo was known to be reclusive; he didn't talk to anybody he didn't have to, never said more than a few words if someone struck up a conversation with him, and forsworn every extracurricular activity in favour of his studies. Unfortunately, he was routinely bullied; Mateo became just as much as target practice for wizards who wanted to show off their magical ability as comic relief for stuck-up jerks who believe Mateo should be punished for simply existing. The bane of Mateo's existence became the "clique" of wizards at the top of the school's popularity hierarchy, consisting of Dragomir Dumitru, Vyacheslav Shostakov and Marius Iliescu, Drago being the "leader" of said clique. In response to routinely getting attacked, Mateo began experimenting with the Dark Arts in his spare time. Mastering the Disillusionment Charm, Mateo would sneak into the restricted section of the School Library after-hours and routinely read books on Dark spells. Although initially studying minor Dark jinxes and hexes, Mateo began experimenting with minor Curses, but refrained from utilizing them against bullies while being attacked. Even though Mateo was at the top of his class in defence and could hold his own when attacked outside of classes by bullies, he often ended up in the hospital wing due to the fact that he was typically outnumbered three-to-one by the attackers. Disowning his family Although Mateo had opted to stay at Carpathia during the holidays, he did return home during the summer, where he would mostly stay in his room or outside where he would continue his magical studies. One day during the summer before his fifth year, his father had spied on him while he was practicing Dark spells outside. When Mateo had returned late that night, Antoine was still up and confronted his son about his whereabouts. When promptly telling him that he was simply studying, his father petrified him and took his book bag and looked inside, only to be shocked at its contents which included various textbooks on Dark spells and charms. Enraged, Antoine had demanded to know why he would shame his family name by turning dark. Mateo's pride had stopped him from telling his father the truth about his life at school, so he simply yelled back various reasons why knowing the Dark Arts is paramount in countering it. The shouting match had woken up the entire house, which contained his entire family including Mateo's aunt and uncle, except Pietro, who was spending the night at his best friend's house. Mateo began accusing his father of favouring his stepchildren instead of his own flesh and blood and stormed upstairs towards his room. Mateo packed his bags and stomped right through the crowd of awoken family members downstairs and disappeared in the green flames of the floo without uttering a single word, leaving the entire house speechless. Mateo flood to Norocstat and used what little money he had to book a room at the Screeching Devil Inn. To sustain himself, Mateo successfully convinced the bar owner to employ him for the summer. Mateo had worked hard, taking any overtime available and sometimes working until the early morning hours. Both in exchange for his hard work and sympathy for Mateo's unfortunate position, the Inn owner, Mander Popescu, gave him his own room at the Inn, allowing him to stay for as long as he needed in exchange for his help in maintaining the place. Meeting Nicolas Mihalios and Blood Magic When school started back up, Carpathia was met with a new student: Nicolas Mihalios, a Hungarian from the Corvinus Academy of Magic who was expelled from his original school due to him beating up a student in retaliation for that boy's connection with a group who bullied his little brother. Unfortunately for him, the student he beat within an inch of his life was from a well-connected family, and succeeded in getting Nicolas kicked out of Corvinus. The two became friends and Mateo began to quickly appreciate having someone to talk to instead of occluding himself. The two best friends were inseparable, with Mateo becoming an all-around more pleasant person. Whenever Mateo was attacked by the school's bullies, Nicolas was right there with him and more often than not they kept the attacking wizards at bay. In his off time, Mateo continued his studies in the Dark Arts, though kept it from Nicolas. He modified the diffindo charm and created a Dark cutting curse: Caeva, that was so powerful it had the ability to cut down thick trees in the Carpathian forest, and in theory, could cut metal. He recorded the curse in his journal, but fearing its power, had sworn off its use against anybody unless absolutely necessary. Mateo continued with his experiments in spellcrafting, creating a powerful healing and mending spell to counter Caeva's destructiveness and another Dark curse, Milescindo, which created several cuts all over the body. Later on in his eighth year, Mateo discovered several books on Blood Magic. Intrigued by this new discovery, he began researching and writing notes on the topic. The only experiment he had done was the creation of a wand with the magical core consisting of blood. Mateo carefully researched the subject, compiling a lot of notes before attempting the feat. Unfortunately, Mateo's notes were a little off and the experiment backfired, causing Mateo to be nearly decapitated by magical backlash. After the incident, Mateo threw all books on the subject into the fire and hid his notes away. Carpathian 700th Anniversary Ball In 1992, a ball to commemorate the school's 700th anniversary was announced. It would take place in December and would be open to students aged thirteen and above. A date was required to attend the ball, and thus, convinced Mateo that . After confiding his fear in Nicolas, he offered to find a date for Mateo, who refused on the grounds that it would make Mateo seem desperate. Mateo decided not to attend, though found himself essentially kidnapped and thrown in a room with Sandra Niță, a beautiful witch of Romanian and Uzbek ancestry and one of the most popular girls in school. When inquiring about the situation, Nicolas said that he wasn't about to let his best friend be without a date. Sandra piped up and said that she would go with Mateo, and although he sensed that Nicolas cut some sort of deal with her, Mateo accepted regardless. A week before the Ball, Mateo took Sandra out on a date. For his first date, he seemed to surprisingly impress Sandra, though because of her insistence of secrecy behind it, Mateo was convinced that it was all an act on the witch's part. For the Ball itself, Mateo had no dress robes, but was given a suit of black robes by Mander Popescu, which were worn by him for his own graduation dance. When picking Sandra up at her dorm before the Ball, Mateo was met with, as he put it, "a woman who's beauty couldn't even be matched by Aphrodite herself." The two entered the Ballroom, drawing eyes from everybody in the room. Although initially reluctant to dance with him, Sandra accompanied Mateo to the ballroom floor and the two danced perfectly with the music, so well that on more than one occasion, others would vacate the floor to bear witness to the spectacle that was their amazing dancing. Afterwards, the two snuck out before the professors ushered the students to their dorms and watched the stars on the grass before Sandra surprisingly initiating intercourse with Mateo, who happily accepted. The pair woke up the next morning outside, on the grass, completely unclothed. Mateo quickly transfigured clothes for the two of them and they discreetly made their way back to the school. As embarrassing as it was, they were not stumbled upon by any teachers. In addition, classes were cancelled for the day, so they believed their absence would go unnoticed. They certainly couldn't have been more wrong, as as soon as the two made their way to the Hall of Hospodars, Sandra and Mateo's friends began hounding them about their whereabouts. Mateo and Sandra both answered at the same time, giving conflicting explanations, causing both of them to blush. Nicolas simply laughed and sat Mateo down at a table and asking for all the details while Natasha pulled Sandra by the hand and led her to the dorms. After spilling all the details to a very impressed looking Nicolas, he confided his regret that the fun was most likely over as Sandra most likely would not have wanted to continue into any sort of relationship, citing the secrecy behind their date and her initial reluctance to dance with him at the Ball. Mateo was proven wrong however, as he was greeted with a kiss by Sandra in public during breakfast. Over the next few weeks, the two continued a relationship, with Mateo very quickly falling in love with the blonde witch. However, it all came crashing down in late-January 1993, when Sandra broke up with him because her friends had threatened to ruin her popularity in the school should she continue. Although Mateo demanded an explanation of how she could let something so trivial get between them, Sandra simply gave an apology and walked off. A distraught and heartbroken Mateo took his frustration out on Nicolas after the latter tried to get his mind off of Sandra. Mateo dealt with the loss easier than he expected, though it was painful whenever he saw Sandra around the school. As such, he actively avoided the witch whenever possible. Nicolas' death and spiral into depression Nicolas and Mateo's friendship came to an abrupt end on 4 May 1993, when a Quidditch match between Carpathia and Durmstrang took place as part of the European Junior Quidditch Championship. Nicolas was chosen for the team as its Seeker, having shown great skill during pick-up Quidditch matches in school. Mateo watched his best friend play every game in the EJQC, and was very amused when Nicolas lit his Corvinus school flag on fire in front of the Hungarian crowd after brutally crushing the Corvinus Quidditch team. During the match between Carpathia and Durmstrang, the weather had been terrible. Rain was pouring on the players and the Quidditch pitch floor was entirely laced with mud. While Nicolas was racing Viktor Krum for the snitch, the two collided and were sent flying. Krum was caught by the safety officials but Nicolas bashed his head on the stands, killing him instantly. Nicolas' death had derailed Mateo and he rapidly sunk into depression. He attended his friend's funeral in Hungary, where he spoke admirably of him and comforted Nadia in the aftermath of his loss. When he went back to school, Mateo wouldn't pay attention to his studies, barely spoke and was only seen outside of classes getting food and then going straight back to his dormitory. Many people had spoken to him after the loss and even the people who usually bullied him kept their distance; everyone but Dragomir Dumitru. Drago had caught up with Mateo during dinner one night and made an insensitive comment about Nicolas' death, claiming him to be "so useless that he couldn't hold a broom properly." With pure rage dictating his actions, Mateo lashed out and used the Milescindo curse on Drago for all in the Hall of Hospodars to see. Mortified at his action, Mateo quickly preformed the counter-curse on Drago but immediately fled to the nearby forest. Drago's profuse bleeding was stopped but they still brought him to the hospital wing. After the incident with Drago, Mateo was exempt from any and all assignments for the rest of the year and was given extra time to grieve over the loss. Mateo returned to the Screeching Devil and was prepared to return to work, but Popescu had ordered him to take time off. Reluctantly, Mateo had stopped working at the Inn, though didn't drown himself in studying like expected. Instead, Mateo took to drinking as a way to cope with the loss. However, one day, Mateo was greeted with a surprise visit by his father, Antoine. He immediately invited him in and they spoke for hours; Mateo was grateful that he had returned to speaking terms with his father. Antoine had been informed of recent events by the Deputy Headmistress, who was an old friend of his, and offered Mateo a chance to come back home. Although expressing his desire to return, he wasn't so sure that the rest of the Maximoffs would be so eager to make amends. Antoine simply asked him to try, to which Mateo reluctantly accepted. Atonement and graduation from Carpathia Mateo had returned home by apparating into the front lawn, where his stepmother was tending the garden. Hearing the crack of apparition, she had turned around to find Mateo standing there. All it took was Mateo saying "hello mom" before she tearfully sprinted towards him and gave him a bone-crushing hug. Overcome with emotion, Mateo had broken down in tears and profusely apologized for his actions. She led him inside where he saw Pietro, who after a few words, embraced his step-brother. Marco was less glad to see him and had a rather colourful set of words to describe his return. Although the relationship between the two remained tense for some time, his stepbrother eventually forgave him. After his reconciliation with his family, Mateo moved back to the family home before returning to Carpathia for his final year, where he quickly noticed that most of the student body hardly looked at him and that no bully, not even Dragomir Dumitru, would dare attack him, nor even acknowledged his existence. Mateo and Pietro would write to each other every week and his academic position returned to the top. Mateo graduated from Carpathia in 1994 at the top of his year; he later described his time there as devoid of any joy (with a few exceptions) and recalls his decision to attend the school as the biggest mistake of his life. Later Life (1994 - 2017) Triwizard Tournament , the location of the 1994/1995 Triwizard Tournament]] Immediately after his graduation, Mateo cut all ties with Carpathia, including any and all classmates he had relations with, hoping to forget about his past and start fresh. In 1994, Pietro was chosen to be the champion for New Alexandria for the newly resurrected Triwizard Tournament, which would be taking place at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic. He implored Mateo to come and cheer him on, to which he did. Though he planned to only cheer on Pietro at the various challenges, he decided to travel to Beauxbatons beforehand to help Pietro in his training. Though Pietro was already a formidable wizard in his own right, there were a few spells and methods Mateo taught him to help in the tournament. These spells included the Caeva and Milescindo curses, the former which he urged Pietro not to use unless absolutely necessary. After arriving to the arena, Mateo and his family sat with the Delacours, which included the Deputy Minister for Magic of France, Alain Delacour and his wife, Apolline. While conversing with them, Mateo noticed that the youngest daughter, Gabrielle, would blush and divert her gaze whenever Mateo saw her staring at him, confusing the Romanian but amusing the rest of his family. During the Dragon Pitt challenge, Mateo was surprised to find Gabrielle clutching to his arm in fear after seeing the Dragon's breath light Fleur's skirt on fire. When Pietro went into the arena, Mateo enthusiastically cheered his step-brother on. However, things took a turn for the worst when the wards keeping the Dragon in-check failed. This freed the Hungarian Horntail from any constriction, prompting the beast to begin attacking the spectators. Although a Protego Maximus was cast by various teachers around the arena to ensure the safety of the spectators, Pietro was trapped with the unwarded Dragon and began fighting for his life. Mateo instantly rushed down to the arena and pleaded for the professors to drop the shield and let him help Pietro. However, they steadfastly refused, saying that if they were to drop the shield even for an instant, there would be a possibility that it would fly out of the arena and cause untold damage to the school. Defeated, Mateo could only watch as his brother dodged attack after attack from the large Dragon, trying his best to defeat it. Finally, Mateo witnessed Pietro use the Caeva curse on the Dragon as a last-ditch effort, cutting the beast's head off but exhausting him so much that he collapsed on the spot. Mateo sprinted towards his step-brother's side and carried him to the medical wing of Beauxbatons. Mercenary Life After the Triwizard Tournament, Mateo celebrated his stepbrother's victory. For his birthday, his father had given him enough money to buy his own house, a gesture which Mateo was incredibly grateful for. Mateo enlisted the aid of a contingent of house-elves and used the money to build a house in Hoia Forest in Transylvania in a plot of land negotiated with the Transylvanian Ministry of Magic (the Black Court Vampires in particular). Mateo then furnished the house and began the process of warding the place. However, while he was doing this, he noticed some items going missing, specifically food. Using the Disillusioning Charm, he hid in the corner of the kitchen and caught a house-elf trying to take some food from his refrigerator. He stunned the elf before reviving and interrogating him on why he was stealing from him. The elf admitted that he stole to feed his family, who had been 'given clothes' only weeks before. Mateo invited the elf's family for dinner, where he offered them a job in the upkeep of his home. Hiding from the Sons of Grindelwald Not long after the wedding, the Sons of Grindelwald threatened the Delacour family. Fearing for his wife and children, Alain began thinking of ways to hide his family. Mateo stepped up and offered to shelter the Delacours in his house in Romania, which was already under the Fidelius charm. Alain agreed and Apolline, Fleur and Gabrielle were placed in his house while Pietro and Marco joined up with an Auror task force created to track down and kill the leader of the Sons of Grindelwald. Although Mateo wished to go with them, Pietro implored him to be the last line of defence for the Delacour family in case the hiding place was breached. Mateo spent the next three weeks at his house in Romania protecting the Delacours while his step-brothers hunted down the Sons of Grindelwald and Alain Delacour did everything he could to aid them. During this time, Mateo and Gabrielle found solace from the situation in each other as they conversed a lot during their time in hiding and bonded during the weeks in hiding. Gabrielle surprised Mateo by conversing with him in Romanian. Mateo, along with Gabrielle, also had to reassure Fleur who spent nearly the entire time worrying about Pietro. Guarding Gabrielle Delacour In early-2002, Apolline Delacour feared that a political rival would put one of her daughters in danger to one-up them in the political scene in magical France. Fleur was less of a worry as she was an adult, married to Pietro and could take care of herself; Pietro was notified nonetheless to keep an eye out for Fleur's safety. Although Pietro was initially approached with being Gabrielle's bodyguard, his commitments to his own teaching position at the European Magical University made him decline and instead, pointed towards Mateo. As Mateo had been working in the mercenary trade for quite some time, Apolline presented him with a contract to be Gabrielle's bodyguard. Mateo accepted the contract, but refused the money, stating that he cared too much for Gabrielle's safety to worry about galleons. Although the Delacours admired his humbleness, they deposited the galleons in his vault anyway. Madam Maxime was notified of the contract and agreed to help the Delacours. Mateo would become Beauxbatons' new Defence Professor while his predecessor would retire under the cover of his wife falling ill. He surprised Gabrielle at the Welcoming Feast on the first day of school. Mateo proved to be a very popular teacher with both the students and staff, save for Charms professor Jean-Sébastien Chretien, who developed quite a rivalry with the new professor, which instantly put him on Mateo's radar. A former champion dueller, Chretien bragged about his exploits daily and had been after Mateo's teaching position ever since he began teaching at Beauxbatons. This put Chretien on Mateo's radar and made sure that the Charms professor didn't spend any more time with Gabrielle than absolutely necessary. Sometime near Christmas during dinner, Gabrielle was approached by a team of supposed French Aurors. They asked the Veela to accompany them to ask some questions, but Mateo put a stop to it, pointing out various flaws in their disguise and outing them as impostors, leading to a viscous duel breaking out in the Main Hall. After stunning and binding the impostors, they were given to the real French Aurors and interrogated, giving them the name of their employer; Augustin Montague, a prominent pure-blood politician and one of the most powerful men in magical France. Montague had been the leader of the political opposition and was hoping to usurp Alain Delacour as Minister for Magic. When the information was released, Montague used his influence to keep him out of prison, but the ensuing scandal destroyed his political aspirations and he was kicked out of the Ministry. In late June, Mateo was kidnapped by mercenaries hired by Montague. He was kept in a cellar of an abandoned household in the French countryside and routinely tortured for three days as punishment for ruining Montague's plans. Mateo was eventually found by French Aurors and taken to a hospital, where he spent a week recovering from the torturous experience at the hands of the mercenaries. Montague was eventually arrested and imprisoned. Mateo was in a coma for a week after his rescue; by his side, Gabrielle refused to leave him, citing her love for him and her desire to stay next to him while he heals. Mateo woke up to see a sleeping Gabrielle on his shoulder, who promptly awoke after feeling him stir, jumped on the hospital bed and gave him tearful, bone-crushing hug, refusing to let go. Return to Romania and the Independence Day Ball In the summer of 2003, not to long after recovering from his coma, Mateo was invited to the South Italian Minister Roberto Vicenzu's Independence Day Ball at his manor in Sicily. Mateo was initially planning to decline the invitation, citing the Ball requiring a date. However, Gabrielle jumped at the chance and offered to accompany him to the ball as friends. Mateo agreed, oblivious to her feelings for him, and attended the Ball with the young Veela on his arm. The Ball went smoothly, and Mateo and Gabrielle had fun dancing and socializing with others. During one of the last songs, the pair danced slowly while making conversation and Mateo had asked why her allure had not affected anybody. She explained that when a Veela falls in love, their natural allure subsides, and when prompted by Mateo, Gabrielle proceeded to describe the person she was in love as a tall, Romanian wizard with curly black hair, hazel eyes and the most adorable smile. Mateo instinctively leaned over and kissed her, but fled the Hall after realizing what he did, which brought Gabrielle to the brink of tears. After some coercion by Pietro, Mateo returned and asked to speak with Gabrielle outside, where he proceeded to air out his reasons of reluctance regarding pursuing a relationship. After being convinced that she didn't care about his age or past history, he relented and the two began a relationship, consummating it the same night. A week after the Ball, Mateo was visited by Madam Maxime. She informed him that the Defence post was still open for him if he wished to return. Although he very much wanted the job, he declined, citing his newfound relationship with Gabrielle which infringed on Beauxbatons' policy of fraternization which clearly stated that romantic relations between staff and students was prohibited. Although Maxime was a bit taken back, she accepted the news surprisingly well and hinted at the probability of the position being open after Gabrielle's graduation. Gabrielle's graduation, birthday and marriage proposal Over the course of the year, Mateo and Gabrielle hadn't seen each other very much as she was still finishing her final year at Beauxbatons; the couple only saw each other only on holidays. Gabrielle finally graduated from Beauxbatons Academy in mid-2003 and Mateo took Gabrielle out for dinner in Paris to celebrate. Gabrielle's eighteenth birthday came in August and was a large celebration, attended by many of Gabrielle's friends and family. The feast took place at Delacour Manor in Southern France and was a great celebration until later in the night. George St. Clair, one of Gabrielle's best friends who was also deeply in love with her, attended the party as well and got into a confrontation with Mateo over Gabrielle's affections. He exclaimed that Mateo did not deserve to be with her and that she belonged with him instead, going so far as to call Mateo an old man despite him still being in his twenties. At this, Mateo gave a sarcastic retort and began laughing. Enraged, George began throwing hexes at Mateo, who blocked all of them with ease until Pietro showed up to defend his step-brother. George was backed up by two of his classmates while Marco came and brandished his wand as well. No fight ensued as Gabrielle came and broke up the confrontation. Mateo witnessed a screaming match between her and George, with Gabrielle angrily reiterating to him about how she told him time and time again that she can't love him like he loves her and that she is totally and irrevocably in love with Mateo. George, enraged, cussed out Gabrielle and apparated out of the Manor. Gabrielle broke down crying, but before Mateo could go and comfort her, she stormed to her room. As the Delacours ushered out the guests of the party, Mateo found Gabrielle in her room. Ignoring her pleas for him to go away, he unlocked the door to her bedroom and proceeded to try and calm her down, however he only succeeded in making her cry harder and blaming herself for pushing away her best friend. He then pulled out a box, got down on one knee and proposed to Gabrielle. She accepted and her tears quickly turned into tears of joy as she gave him a bone-crushing hug. Carpathian School of Magic Class of 1994 reunion 2004 marked the ten-year anniversary of Mateo's graduation from the Carpathian Academy of Magic. Mateo hadn't thought about the event, as he had no desire to see his past tormentors again. It wasn't until Gabrielle had taken the liberty of fetching Mateo's mail one day that she saw a letter from Carpathia. When asked what the school would want with him, Mateo brushed off the question, snatched the letter from Gabrielle's hand and attempted to throw it into the fire, only to be petrified by Gabrielle and have the letter opened and read right in front of him. Although Gabrielle understood why Mateo was quick to discard the letter, she tried convincing him to attend. Although he initially refused, he eventually accepted when she offered to go with him. When Mateo and Gabrielle arrived at the mansion where the event was being held, the two, Mateo in particular, was getting looks from everybody outside. Mateo had thought of turning back, but Gabrielle simply held his arm tighter to prevent him from leaving. When the couple burst through the doors of the ballroom, silence filled the air. It was painfully evident that nobody expected Mateo to show up, not the least with a Veela accompanying him. Mateo had suggested to Gabrielle that they should just leave the party, but she firmly stated that they are staying. The first person he talked to after arriving was one of the few classmates he ever had that made an effort to get to know him; Natalia Romanova. Things went rather well; Mateo introduced Gabrielle as his fiancée, with Natalia complimenting how Mateo turned out despite his poor time at school. However, things went rather sour when Drago entered the scene. While Mateo and his fiancée were talking to Natalia, Drago came up and kissed her, saying "how are you enjoying the evening darling?" This understandably confused Mateo and he simply stared at Drago with pure hatred in his eyes, being met with a fearful Drago once he realized who Natalia was talking to. Drago slowly backed away from the table and scurried from the room. After he left, Mateo angrily inquired as to "what that was all about." Natalia calmly explained that she and Drago had married not long after graduation, much to Mateo's fury. Although Natalia tried to explain that Drago had changed, Mateo pointed out that he had never received an apology; Drago, in fact, had not spoken a word to him since the day Mateo nearly killed him. At this point, a crowd was gathering around to witness the shouting match while Gabrielle desperately tried to calm her fiancé down. Mateo began pulling people from the crowd whom he knew for a fact were victims of Drago's bullying and asked them whether or not Drago had apologized for his actions, all of them replying negatively. Mateo later said that his biggest regret wasn't attending Carpathia, but rather not allowing Drago to die after cutting his arm off with the Caeva curse, earning him a backhanded slap from Natalia. Thankfully, Gabrielle stopped Mateo before he retaliated. Gabrielle dispersed the crowd around them and accompanied Mateo to the bar, where they each ordered a glass of wine. Natalia meanwhile went outside to search for her husband. Mateo was still angry about the previous revelation but Gabrielle coerced him into speaking with his other former schoolmates. After catching up with a few of his former classmates, Gabrielle ushered Mateo to the dance floor. The two twirled perfectly with the music, catching the eye of everybody in the ballroom. Marius Iliescu's funeral On August 25, 2017, Gabrielle received news from Natalia Romanova that Marius, Sandra's husband, passed away from an unknown illness. She relayed the information to Mateo, who brushed it off and stated that he didn't care for him. Gabrielle angrily inquired as to how he could be so cold to somebody who just passed away, no less the husband of someone he loved very dearly at one point in his life. Mateo cited Marius' involvement with Drago and his three-on-one attacks on him while they were at school as one of many reasons why he was glad that Marius was dead. Gabrielle implored Mateo to at least make an effort to comfort Sandra in the wake of her loss, but Mateo adamantly refused to even entertain that option, opting to continue his policy of "non-acknowledgement" towards his former love, saying "where was she when Nicolas died?" Mateo didn't talk about the situation at all over the next few days, but on August 30, Gabrielle informed Mateo that the funeral would take place the next day. Mateo relented and decided to attend, if only to satisfy his wife. The next morning, Mateo met up with Drago and Natalia, and the three went to the Iliescu household. Mateo was almost kicked out of the house before the ceremony by friends of Marius', but Drago stopped them. Magical abilities and skills * Duelling: Mateo was hailed as an exceptional duellist by anybody who had seen him in action. He was able to hold his own against the frequent three-on-one assaults he suffered at the hands of the Clique during his time at Carpathia, though almost always ended with his defeat because of the numerical advantage. On the flip side, as rare as they were for him, Mateo has never lost a one-on-one engagement. * Dark Arts: As a victim of frequent bullying and attacks while at school, Mateo fostered a desire to overpower his enemies, leading him to become intrigued by the Dark Arts. Mateo had mastered many spells from the Dark Arts' vast arsenal of magic and by his ninth year, had not only in-depth knowledge of most spells short of the torture curse but had created several Dark jinxes, hexes and curses, and would employ its use against his attackers during his years at Carpathia. Mateo has adequate knowledge of all the Unforgivables but has never performed them on a human. * Spell creation: As a student at Carpathia, Mateo had created several useful spells. Some spells of his creation include the Milescindo and Caeva curses, and the healing spells Vulnerus Purgo and Emendo Membrum, the latter being a mending spell for use in healing damage cause by Caeva's destructiveness. * Charms: Mateo was incredibly talented in Charms. He could conjure a corporeal Patronus in his fourth year, the only one in his class to do so; the Patronus took the form of a panther. which took the form of a Panther; this was an incredible testament to his power, as even adult wizards have trouble conjuring the spell. Mateo was able to cast an incredibly strong Shield Charm, which has so far been impenetrable by even the strongest Dark Magic short of the Killing Curse. He could use the Confundus Charm to great effect, although didn't use it very much. Mateo was able to lift a Dragon by himself and could absentmindedly do spells like the Summoning Charm, Colour Change Charm and Refilling Charm without a flick of a wand. * Transfiguration: Mateo mastered the Transfiguration curriculum in Carpathia by his seventh year. He sat the Advanced Transfiguration class' final exam three years earlier. He was adept at Transfiguring animate objects, even humans; he demonstrated this talent by transfiguring Marius Iliescu into a sheep as a prank. He could self-transfigure himself entirely and had a talent for voices, able to mimic someone's speech after studying someone for only a short time, making him invaluable as a mercenary in order to infiltrate areas and organizations. * Potions: Mateo's Potions ability far outpaced any other student within three years of him. He took ninth-year Potions in his sixth year and finished the Advanced Potions class in his seventh year. He used his knowledge to create several potions for his own use, including a fast-working regeneration potion which he used after being attacked by Drago Dumitru and his friends. He had written many notes in his copy of Advanced Potion-Making, which was an outdated British text translated into Romanian at a time where Hogwarts had replaced all of their Potions textbooks with new versions written by Severus Snape. He successfully petitioned the Headmaster to update the curriculum. * Flying/Quidditch: On a broomstick, Mateo was an adequate flyer, and although he never took a particular interest in the game, Mateo would cheer on his favourite team or player during Quidditch games to show his support. The few times he has played Quidditch, Mateo has proven that can hold his own as a Keeper. * Multilingualism: In addition to Romanian, his native language, Mateo has the ability to speak Italian, French, Ukrainian, Russian and Hungarian. * Healing magic: Mateo was able to cast really effective healing spells and even created a healing spell of his own in order to heal the effects of a Dark curse he had created. * Apparition: Mateo's ability to calculate precise Apparition points is nothing short of incredible. Although not able to Apparate across the European continent like some wizards, Mateo can Apparate onto a ledge of a building far away or a specific branch of a tree. In contrast, most wizards can Apparate to a general area, which gets wider the greater the distance. Relationships Family Gabrielle Delacour Mateo met Gabrielle first when she was only eight years old at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic during the Triwizard Tournament, which Pietro Maximoff was competing in as the champion for New Alexandria. They only briefly met when their parents introduced their families to each other, though Mateo and Gabrielle's parents frequently socialized with each other, so Gabrielle would see Mateo quite a bit. She could never talk to him because she was so shy and would run and hide when Mateo would catch her looking at him. As Mateo and Gabrielle's respective siblings, Pietro and Fleur, were engaged, the two saw each other a lot as Mateo frequently took trips to Delacour Manor with Pietro in order to plan various parts of the wedding as he was chosen as a groomsman. Mateo also saw Gabrielle when both the Maximoff and Delacour families spent the summer of 1997 at Pietro's godfather's mansion in Greece. Mateo had talked a lot with her during that time and the two became friends. Pietro told Mateo that he would be walking Gabrielle down the aisle; as Gabrielle still looked like a little girl at the time, Mateo was less than enthusiastic at the news. However, once Mateo arrived for the practice run-through of the wedding day, he discovered that Gabrielle had gone through her Veela maturing phase and had the appearance of a young woman. When the Delacours were threatened by the Sons of Grindelwald not long after Pietro and Fleur's wedding, Mateo hid Gabrielle and her family in his house in Romania, which was under the Fidelius charm; Pietro being the secret-keeper. Mateo protected them while Pietro and Marco joined an Auror task force to track down the leader of the Sons of Grindelwald. During the weeks that they were in hiding, Mateo and Gabrielle bonded closely, each finding comfort from the situation in each other's company. During this time, Gabrielle's crush turned into genuine love for him, though Mateo remained oblivious to the fact. Years later, Mateo was hired by Alain and Apolline as a bodyguard in order to protect Gabrielle from the possibility of a kidnapping from Alain's political rivals. Dragomir Dumitru Natalia Romanova Natalia Romanova was a classmate of Mateo's and later became a close friend of his wife, Gabrielle. But perhaps the most interesting of all is that Natalia later married Mateo's sworn enemy: Dragomir Dumitru, making relations between the two quite tense. Before all that however, Mateo and Natalia had begun life at Carpathia on quite opposite ends of the popularity hierarchy. Natalia, ever the opportunist, remained in the Clique's good graces and wasn't above joining in to the verbal assaults thrown towards Mateo during their years at school, although not to the same level as her twin, Natasha, whom Mateo calls "a proper bitch." Mateo kept his distance from Natalia, but the two actually became friendly in the aftermath of Nicolas Mihalios' Quidditch accident in their ninth year. After his friend's death, Natalia had cast away her popularity and acted on her morals when she actually consoled Mateo by offering him her friendship. The two became close and Mateo even began to grow feelings for the woman, whom he thought had returned his interest because of her flirting and suggestive demeanor. When Natalia's father and brother were killed by an attack from the Sons of Grindelwald, Mateo attended the funeral with her in order to return her kindness after Nicolas died. After the funeral service, Natalia seduced Mateo. Although Mateo had thought she finally wanted to pursue a relationship, her reasons were a tad more selfish than that; Natalia used Mateo's feelings into initiating intercourse so to take her mind off the tragedy that had befell her family. Mateo later became very affectionate towards Natalia, but she later admitted to him that she held no romantic feelings towards him. Their friendship had taken a spiral afterwards and ended a few days later. Mateo avoided her for the remainder of school and upon graduation, cut ties with Carpathia entirely. The two would not meet until their class' ten-year anniversary in 2004. While there, he learned that she had married Drago, which got them in an argument that turned physical when Natalia slapped him after he said his biggest regret was that he didn't let Drago die after he cut his arm off. Mateo had stayed away from her the rest of the night, but Gabrielle would later speak to her and the two would actually get along. This friendship between his wife and former lover would prove to be problematic when Mateo and Gabrielle started a family. Gabrielle would be influenced by Natalia which led to disagreements over things such as naming their children, selecting their godparents and where they should go to school. Perhaps the most damaging spat of this nature was the one regarding where Natalia would go to school. In this argument, which Natalia was present for, Gabrielle tried to reason with Mateo, claiming Carpathia has changed since his departure. The argument just got uglier once Natalia jumped into the conversation; feeling his wife was being manipulated, Mateo tore off his wedding ring, said "you know what, I don't why I wear this stupid thing anymore," and threw it at her. Mateo and Gabrielle made up afterwards, but this changed their relationship with Natalia. A few days after the incident, Mateo pinned Natalia against a wall in her home and stated that he won't let his marriage fail because of her and that she should keep her nose out of his family's business. Natasha Romanova Natasha is the twin sister of Natalia Romanova. Unlike Natalia, Mateo never got along with Natasha and the two remained bitter rivals for their entire lives. The reason Natasha despised Mateo is because of her Tatiana Romanova Tatiana Romanova is the mother of Mateo's former classmates Natasha and Natalia. Mateo initially met her at the funeral of her husband and eldest son, which he attended to be there for Natalia. During the post-service dinner, Mateo struck up conversation with the witch and the two seemed to connect with their love of literature. The next time he saw her was a ball that the Romanian Minister of Magic held in the 120th anniversary of the establishment of Romania. The two had chatted with each other and Mateo invited her for a dance. It was that night when Mateo and Tatiana began their love affair, one which would defy most people's expectations and last two years shrouded in complete secrecy. What drew Mateo and Tatiana to each other initially were their love of literature and interest in plays. In addition, they were both people who greatly valued their privacy and for much of their life, wore a mask to hide their true emotions. However, the thing that allowed the two to bond as well as they did was their shared history in dealing with loss; both have lost loved ones close to them and so they found solace in one another, a place where they could tear off their emotional masks and just be themselves around each other. Because they were very private people, it was a sign of immense trust to show each other their true personalities. The age difference between the two was surprisingly a scarcely talked-about topic; although Tatiana was twenty-five years his senior, the pair hadn't spoken much about it, not until around their second year of courting. Another 'elephant in the room' so to speak were Tatiana's children, who were in the same year as Mateo when they went to school. Of course, the prospect of possibly one day becoming the twins' stepfather had given him quite a chuckle. Category:Harry Potter Universe (Scopatore) Category:1975 births Category:Males Category:Wizards Category:Pure-bloods Category:Romanian people Category:Carpathian School of Magic students Category:Maximoff family (Scopatore) Category:Beauxbatons staff Category:Professors Category:Married individuals